7 drug dealers sentenced to varied jail terms

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation upheld a State Security Court (SSC) ruling sentencing seven drug dealers to prison terms ranging from 10 to 15 years after convicting them of attempting to smuggle illicit drugs to Saudi Arabia in March 2021.

The seven men were sentenced in February 2022 by the SSC after the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) intercepted them attempting to smuggle illegal narcotics to Saudi Arabia on March 14.

The court also ordered the seven defendants to pay fines ranging from JD10,000 to JD15,000

According to court documents, the law-enforcement agency learned that the defendants were in possession of a “large stash” of illegal narcotics, and were in the process of smuggling the goods to a neighbouring country.

“The law-enforcement agency sent a surveillance team to monitor the suspects’ movements,” the court documents elaborated.

Upon arresting the men while driving, AND agents found 517,000 Captagon pills stashed in their vehicles, the court papers added.

The defendants contested the SSC’s ruling through their lawyers, who argued that the court “did not provide solid evidence to implicate their clients”. 

Meanwhile, the SSC prosecution office asked the higher court to uphold the rulings imposed on the defendants.

The higher court maintained that the SSC had followed the proper procedures in issuing the sentences against the defendants.

“It was clear to the court that the defendants confessed willingly to possessing the illegal drugs,” the higher court said.

The Cassation Court bench comprised judges Mahmoud Ebtoush, Nayef Samarat, Hammad Ghzawi, Mohammad Khashashneh and Qassem Dughmi.